A poetic take on Hyperlexia

Occasionally, the Google Alert I've set to inform me when someone writes about Hyperlexia turns up something notable or interesting. But rarely do I come across anything as delightful as this moving poem by Edward Byrne, a poet, professor, and editor of the Valparaiso Poetry Review.

AUTISM: HYPERLEXIA

My son eyed the large and wide print
. . . . . stenciled across an interstate billboard.

At three, he’d already taught himself
. . . . . to read over a year earlier, even before

he could tell anyone how well he knew
. . . . . to spell words we had never heard him

say. My wife and I were surprised
. . . . . once again by the way he spoke terms

learned through no method we know,
. . . . . on this day reciting lines of a highway

advertisement shining under bright
. . . . . summer sunlight, its bold gold and red

lettering—Family accommodations,
. . . . . adventurous activities, and exhilarating

attractions ahead—sending a message
. . . . . to tourists that now seems meant more

to us as a lesson we only discovered
. . . . . somewhere much farther down the road.


—Edward Byrne

Exhilarating attractions ahead, indeed.

He kindly gave me permission to share this here. The poem is featured in the Spring issue of the Bellevue Literary Review. You can visit Edward's Byrne's blog, One Poet's Notes, to read more and to leave a comment about how much you like this poem.